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- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University, but, while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a total of three days as an engineer at US Electrical Motors, which cemented his growing realization that engineering wasn't for him. He quit and took a job as a messenger for 20th Century Fox, eventually rising to the position of story analyst.
After a term spent studying modern English literature at England's Oxford University and a year spent bopping around Europe, Corman returned to the US, intent on becoming a screenwriter/producer. He sold his first script in 1953, "The House in the Sea," which was eventually filmed and released as Highway Dragnet (1954).
Horrified by the disconnect between his vision for the project and the film that eventually emerged, Corman took his salary from the picture, scraped together a little capital and set himself up as a producer, turning out Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). Corman used his next picture, The Fast and the Furious (1954), to finagle a multi-picture deal with a fledgling company called American Releasing Corp. (ARC). It would soon change its name to American-International Pictures (AIP) and with Corman as its major talent behind the camera, would become one of the most successful independent studios in cinema history.
With no formal training, Corman first took to the director's chair with Five Guns West (1955) and over the next 15 years directed 53 films, mostly for AIP. He proved himself a master of quick, inexpensive productions, turning out several movies as director and/or producer in each of those years--nine movies in 1957, and nine again in 1958. His personal speed record was set with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), which he shot in two days and a night.
In the early 1960s, he began to take on more ambitious projects, gaining a great deal of critical praise (and commercial success) from a series of adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories, most of them starring Vincent Price. His film The Intruder (1962) was a serious look at racial integration in the South, starring a very young William Shatner. Critically praised and winning a prize at the Venice Film Festival, the movie became Corman's first--and, for many years, only--commercial flop. He called its failure "the greatest disappointment in my career." As a consequence of the experience, Corman opted to avoid such direct "message" films in the future and resolved to express his social and political concerns beneath the surface of overt entertainments.
Those messages became more radical as the 1960s wound to a close and after AIP began re-editing his films without his knowledge or consent, he left the company, retiring from directing to concentrate on production and distribution through his own newly formed company, New World Pictures. In addition to low-budget exploitation flicks, New World also distributed distinguished art cinema from around the world, becoming the American distributor for the films of Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, François Truffaut and others. Selling off New World in the 1980s, Corman has continued his work through various companies in the years since--Concorde Pictures, New Horizons, Millenium Pictures, New Concorde. In 1990, after the publication of his biography "How I Made A Hundred Movies in Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime"--one of the all-time great books on filmmaking--he returned to directing but only for a single film, Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
With hundreds of movies to his credit, Roger Corman is one of the most prolific producers in the history of the film medium and one of the most successful--in his nearly six decades in the business, only about a dozen of his films have failed to turn a profit. Corman has been dubbed, among other things, "The King of the Cult Film" and "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and his filmography is packed with hundreds of remarkably entertaining films in addition to dozens of genuine cult classics. Corman has displayed an unrivaled eye for talent over the years--it could almost be said that it would be easier to name the top directors, actors, writers and creators in Hollywood who DIDN'T get their start with him than those who did. Among those he mentored are Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante and Sandra Bullock. His influence on modern American cinema is almost incalculable. In 2009, he was honored with an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Lily James was born Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson in Esher, Surrey, to Ninette (Mantle), an actress, and Jamie Thomson, an actor and musician. Her grandmother, Helen Horton, was an American actress. She began her education at Arts Educational School in Tring and subsequently went on to study acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating in 2010.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in London, England, Hayley Elizabeth Atwell has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States. An only child, Hayley was named after actress Hayley Mills. Her parents, Alison (Cain) and Grant Atwell, both motivational speakers, met at a London workshop of Dale Carnegie's self-help bible "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Her mother is English (with Irish ancestry) and her father is American; he was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and is partly of Native-American descent (his Native American name is Star Touches Earth). Her parents divorced when she was age two. Her father returned to America and Hayley remained with her mother in London, but she spent her summers in Missouri with her father. Hayley's mother saw theater as an important communal experience, so she was introduced to theater from a young age. At age 11, she had memorable trip to see Ralph Fiennes playing Hamlet. She would later work with him on The Duchess (2008).
She went to Sion-Manning Roman Catholic Girl's School in West London where she excelled academically. She took her A-levels at the London Oratory School. She took two years out of her education, traveling with her father and working for a casting director. In 2005, she graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a degree in Acting. Hayley began her career with parts on a few BBC television productions. Her first big break came in the television miniseries, The Line of Beauty (2006). The following year, she got her first film role in How About You (2007). She followed this with Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (2007). Her breakthrough role came four years later as British agent Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Fiona Rene was born on 5 April 1988 in Montana, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Lincoln Lawyer (2022), Fire Country (2022) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox is an English actor, director, and producer. His is known for the roles as singer Marilyn in the BBC's Boy George biopic Worried About the Boy (2010), James Leighton-Masters in The Riot Club (2014), Freddie Baxter in Channel 4 hit series Cucumber (2015) and Banana (2015), Commander Pope in historical film Black '47 (2018), Detective Sergeant Wilbur Strauss in the Victorian sitcom Year of the Rabbit (2019), and Jeremy Bamber in the true crime drama series White House Farm (2020).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The Emmy Award-winning actor stars in NBC's Emmy and Golden Globe nominated drama series This Is Us (2016). For his role as Randall Pearson, Brown won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as well as a Golden Globe, becoming the first African-American actor to win his category in the award show's 75-year history. Additionally, Brown made history by becoming the first African-American actor to receive the SAG Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama and also received a SAG award alongside his cast for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He also has won an NAACP Image Award and Critics Choice Award, and has been nominated for a TCA Award and a Teen Choice Award. In 2016, Brown portrayed prosecutor Christopher Darden in FX's highly-rated award-winning television event series Inside Look: The People v. O.J. Simpson - American Crime Story (2016). He won an Emmy Award and Critics Choice Award for the role and was nominated for a Golden Globe, SAG Award, and NAACP Image Award.
Brown was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Aralean Banks and Sterling Brown. His father died when he was ten, after a heart attack. Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from Stanford University, before receiving his Master's Degree in Fine Arts from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.
Brown can be seen in Marvel's Black Panther (2018). Later in the year, he co-starred in Fox's The Predator (2018) and Hotel Artemis (2018), with Jodie Foster and Brian Tyree Henry. In 2017, Brown co-starred in Open Road's Marshall (2017), for which he received an NAACP Image Award nomination for his role. In 2016, Brown co-starred with Tina Fey in Paramount's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016).
A lover of theater, Brown has performed in a variety of staged shows, including NY and LA productions of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3), for which he won an NAACP Theatre Award and was nominated for an Ovation Award. His additional stage credits include MacBeth, The Brother/Sister Plays and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui opposite Al Pacino.
For seven years, Brown portrayed Dr. Roland Burton in the critically acclaimed Lifetime series Army Wives (2007). Additional television credits include Supernatural (2005), Person of Interest (2011), Masters of Sex (2013), Castle (2009) and Criminal Minds (2005). His film credits include Our Idiot Brother (2011), The Suspect (2013), Righteous Kill (2008), Trust the Man (2005), and Spaceman (2016).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Krista Allen hails from Texas and made her mark on Hollywood after just landing in LA with a excellent timing as she starred alongside comedy legend Jim Carrey in the hit film Liar Liar, portraying the unforgettable Elevator Girl. This iconic scene became an instant classic, showcasing Krista's innate comedic prowess and undeniable charisma. Since then, Krista has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, gracing the most iconic TV and film productions of our time with her unmatched talent and captivating presence. Her journey to stardom is a testament to her versatility and dedication, captivating audiences on both the big and small screens. In 2023, Krista achieved a monumental milestone by earning a Daytime Emmy nomination in her very first year as a recast of Dr. Taylor Hayes, on Bold and the Beautiful.
Krista's early journey led her to the hallowed halls of daytime television, where she portrayed the beloved Billie Reed on NBC's iconic soap opera, Days of Our Lives. Her portrayal earned her widespread acclaim..
Krista's talent shone brightly as she joined the cast of Baywatch Hawaii, embodying the enigmatic villain Jenna Avid for three unforgettable seasons. She further showcased her range as an actress with memorable roles on hit shows such as CSI, Friends, Two and a Half Men, and Modern Family. Her resume is packed with even more iconic shows and films. Check it out.
Her silver screen credits are equally impressive, with standout roles in blockbuster hits like Anger Management and Final Destination 4, where she captivated audiences with her dynamic performances.
Beyond her achievements in mainstream entertainment, Krista is a multi-talented individual. She is a stand-up comedian, bringing laughter to audiences across the nation with her wit and humor. Moreover, she is an established ghostwriter for comedians, contributing her talents for HBO and Netflix specials.
But Krista's passion doesn't stop there. In her pursuit of personal growth and advocacy, she became a certified psychotherapist in Trauma and addiction and epigenetic coach, with a focus on neurotransmitter DNA. She started her studies to advocate for her own Autism and ADHD. Now, she actively coaches neurodivergent individuals, amplifying the voices of the Autistic and ADHD and CPTSD communities with unwavering dedication.
Krista is a very proud mom to her son Jake Moritt, and her 3 Pitbull rescues Hank, JoJo and Penny.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Producer
Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but then she discovered the stage, and gave up dancing for acting. To her, it presented much more of a challenge.
After graduation from Cushing Academy, she was refused admittance to Eva Le Gallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory. She enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School and was the star pupil. She was in the off-Broadway play "The Earth Between" (1923), and her Broadway debut in 1929 was in "Broken Dishes". She also appeared in "Solid South". Late in 1930, she was hired by Universal, where she made her first film, called Bad Sister (1931). When she arrived in Hollywood, the studio representative who went to meet her train left without her because he could find no one who looked like a movie star. An official at Universal complained she had "as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville" and her performance in "Bad Sister" didn't impress.
In 1932, she signed a seven-year deal with Warner Brothers Pictures. Her first film with them was The Man Who Played God (1932). She became a star after this appearance, known as the actress that could play a variety of very strong and complex roles. More fairly successful movies followed, but it was the role of Mildred Rogers in RKO's Of Human Bondage (1934) that would give Bette major acclaim from the film critics. She had a significant number of write-in votes for the Best Actress Oscar, but didn't win. Warner Bros. felt their seven-year deal with Bette was more than justified. They had a genuine star on their hands. With this success under her belt, she began pushing for stronger and more meaningful roles. In 1935, she received her first Oscar for her role in Dangerous (1935) as Joyce Heath.
In 1936, she was suspended without pay for turning down a role that she deemed unworthy of her talent. She went to England, where she had planned to make movies, but was stopped by Warner Bros. because she was still under contract to them. They did not want her to work anywhere. Although she sued to get out of her contract, she lost. Still, they began to take her more seriously after that.
Returning after losing her lawsuit, her roles improved dramatically. In 1938, Bette received a second Academy Award win for her work in Jezebel (1938) opposite the soon-to-be-legendary Henry Fonda. The only role she didn't get that she wanted was Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Warners wouldn't loan her to David O. Selznick unless he hired Errol Flynn to play Rhett Butler, which both Selznick and Davis thought was a terrible choice. It was rumored she had numerous affairs, among them George Brent and William Wyler, and she was married four times, three of which ended in divorce. She admitted her career always came first.
She made many successful films in the 1940s, but each picture was weaker than the last and by the time her Warner Brothers contract had ended in 1949, she had been reduced to appearing in such films as the unintentionally hilarious Beyond the Forest (1949). She made a huge comeback in 1950 when she replaced an ill Claudette Colbert in, and received an Oscar nomination for, All About Eve (1950). She worked in films through the 1950s, but her career eventually came to a standstill, and in 1961 she placed a now famous Job Wanted ad in the trade papers.
She received an Oscar nomination for her role as a demented former child star in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). This brought about a new round of super-stardom for generations of fans who were not familiar with her work. Two years later, she starred in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). Bette was married four times.
In 1977 she received the AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award and in 1979 she won a Best Actress Emmy for Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979). In 1977-78 she moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles and filmed a pilot for the series Hotel (1983), which she called Brothel. She refused to do the TV series and suffered a stroke during this time.
Her last marriage, to actor Gary Merrill, lasted ten years, longer than any of the previous three. In 1985, her daughter Barbara Davis ("B.D.") Hyman published a scandalous book about Bette called "My Mother's Keeper." Bette worked in the later 1980s in films and TV, even though a stroke had impaired her appearance and mobility. She wrote a book, "This 'N That", during her recovery from the stroke. Her last book was "Bette Davis, The Lonely Life", issued in paperback in 1990. It included an update from 1962 to 1989. She wrote the last chapter in San Sebastian, Spain.
Sadly, Bette Davis died on October 6, 1989, of metastasized breast cancer, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. Many of her fans refused to believe she was gone.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Andrea Arnold was born on 5 April 1961 in Dartford, Kent, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for American Honey (2016), Fish Tank (2009) and Red Road (2006).- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the movies every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. He studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley and, while there, got bitten by the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies. He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' play "The Morning Star" (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood, where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory (1944).
Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles. He appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as an amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling (1946), he was again nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe. He was especially effective in westerns and appeared in such varied fare as David O. Selznick's critically blasted Duel in the Sun (1946), the somewhat better received Yellow Sky (1948) and the acclaimed The Gunfighter (1950). He was nominated again for the Academy Award for his roles in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), which dealt with anti-Semitism, and Twelve O'Clock High (1949), a story of high-level stress in an Air Force bomber unit in World War II.
With a string of hits to his credit, Peck made the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic, larger-than-life figures in such films as Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) and Moby Dick (1956). He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film, Roman Holiday (1953). Peck finally won the Oscar, after four nominations, for his performance as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). In the early 1960s, he appeared in two darker films than he usually made, Cape Fear (1962) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), which dealt with the way people live. He also gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (1961), one of the biggest box-office hits of that year.
In the early 1970s, he produced two films, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972) and The Dove (1974), when his film career stalled. He made a comeback playing, somewhat woodenly, Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen (1976). After that, he returned to the bigger-than-life roles he was best known for, such as MacArthur (1977) and the monstrous Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele in the huge hit The Boys from Brazil (1978). In the 1980s, he moved into television with the miniseries The Blue and the Gray (1982) and The Scarlet and the Black (1983). In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different role, in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). He was also cast as the progressive-thinking owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money (1991).
In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Always politically progressive, he was active in such causes as anti-war protests, workers' rights and civil rights. In 2003, his Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute. Gregory Peck died at age 87 on June 12, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.- Simona Tabasco was born on 5 April 1994 in Napoli, Campania, Italy. She is an actress, known for The White Lotus (2021), Perez. (2014) and Cloud One.
- Actress
- Production Manager
Victoria Hamilton is an English actress. After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Hamilton began her career in classical theatre, appearing in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In 2002, she appeared in the London stage play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg alongside Clive Owen and later Eddie Izzard. She made her Broadway debut in 2003 when the production moved to New York, where she earned a Tony Award nomination. She won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award and Evening Standard Theatre Award for her performance in the play Suddenly, Last Summer, held in 2004 at the Lyceum Theatre.
Hamilton has often worked in the costume drama genre. During the 1990s, she had supporting roles in three Jane Austen adaptations: the 1995 serial Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 film Persuasion, and the 1999 film Mansfield Park.Hamilton won the role of Queen Victoria in the 2001 television production, Victoria & Albert, portraying the monarch in her early years. From 2008 to 2011, Hamilton was a cast member in the BBC1 series Lark Rise to Candleford. From 2016-17, she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in the Netflix historical drama series The Crown.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Mitch Pileggi was born on 5 April 1952 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is an actor, known for Basic Instinct (1992), The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008) and The X-Files (1993). He has been married to Arlene Warren since 1 January 1997. They have one child. He was previously married to Debbie Andrews.- Rashmika Mandanna (Born on 5th April 1996) is an Indian actress who has and is working in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu & Hindi films and is rightly been called, 'Pan-India Actress'. She enjoys a huge fanbase across the nation and has been bestowed with the title, 'National Crush of India'.
Rashmika's claim to fame was when she won the Clean & Clear 'Times Fresh Face' title in 2014 following which she has become one of the most popular actors in India enjoying both critical as well as commercial success.
Rashmika made her acting debut with the 2016 Kannada film, Kirik Party (2016) opposite Rakshit Shetty. She was applauded by the audience and she went on to win the 'Best Debut Actress-Kannada' at the 'South Indian International Movie Awards'. Following her debut, she starred in two commercially successful films, Anjaniputra (2017) and Chamak (2017). For her performance in 'Anjani Putra', Rashmika won the award for 'Best Actress' at the Zee Kannada Hemmeya Kannadathi Awards. The 'Pan-India Actress' then made her Telugu debut with the 2018 romantic drama titled Chalo (2018) and in the same year starred in one of her biggest hits, Geetha Govindam (2018) opposite Vijay Deverakonda. For 'Geetha Govindam' she won several 'Best Actress' awards that included Sri Kala Sudha Telugu Movie Awards, Zee Cine Awards (Telugu) and Filmfare Awards South in the year 2019.
She has also starred in several successful projects like Devadas (2018), Yajamana (2019), Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020) and Bheeshma (2020). In 2019, she was widely appreciated for her nuanced performance in the Telugu film Dear Comrade (2019). It is for the same film that she was awarded the 'Best Actor Critics Choice' at the 77th Behindwoods Gold Medals (2019).
In the year 2021, Rashmika featured in the Hindi music video Uchana Amit Feat. Badshah, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Jonita Gandhi, Rashmika Mandanna: Top Tucker (2021) alongside rapper Badshah, Amit Uchana, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Jonita Gandhi. In the same year, Rashmika also starred in the Kannada language film Pogaru (2021) opposite Dhruva Sarja and made her Tamil debut with the hit film Sultan (2021) opposite Karthi.
After becoming one of the highest-paid and most sought-after actresses in the South film industry, Rashmika Mandanna is all set to make her Bollywood debut. She will be seen in Mission Majnu (2023) opposite Sidharth Malhotra and in Goodbye (2022) opposite Amitabh Bachchan, thereby working with, big banners like Rsvp, Reliance Entertainment and Balaji Motion Pictures respectively.
With a diverse line up of films and ever growing fanbase, Rashmika is cited to be the 'Next Big Thing In Bollywood'. Her upcoming projects also include Sukumar's much awaited Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1 (2021) opposite Allu Arjun and Thirumala Kishore's Aadavaallu Meeku Johaarlu (2022) opposite Sharwanand. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia at the end of the war. After playing the lead in the play "The Truth" at Ripon College he decided that acting might be his career.
Moving to New York, Tracy and O'Brien, who'd also settled on a career on the stage, roomed together while attending the Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1923 both got nonspeaking parts as robots in "R.U.R.", a dramatization of the groundbreaking science fiction novel by Czech author Karel Capek. Making very little money in stock, Tracy supported himself with jobs as bellhop, janitor and salesman until John Ford saw his critically acclaimed performance in the lead role in the play "The Last Mile" (later played on film by Clark Gable) and signed him for The William Fox Film Company's production of Up the River (1930). Despite appearing in sixteen films at that studio over the next five years, Tracy was never able to rise to full film star status there, in large part because the studio was unable to match his talents to suitable story material.
During that period the studio itself floundered, eventually merging with Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck and William Goetz's William 20th Century Pictures to become 20th Century-Fox). In 1935 Tracy signed with MGM under the aegis of Irving Thalberg and his career flourished. He became the first actor to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars for Captains Courageous (1937) and, in a project he initially didn't want to star in, Boys Town (1938).
During Tracy's nearly forty-year film career, he was nominated for his performances in San Francisco (1936), Father of the Bride (1950), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), The Old Man and the Sea (1958), Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).
Tracy had a brief romantic relationship with Loretta Young in the mid-1930s, and a lifelong one with Katharine Hepburn beginning in 1942 after they were first paired in Woman of the Year by director George Stevens. Tracy's strong Roman Catholic beliefs precluded his divorcing wife Louise, though they mostly lived apart. Tracy suffered from severe alcoholism and diabetes (from the late 1940s), which led to his declining several tailor-made roles in films that would become big hits with other actors in those roles. Although his drinking problems were well known, he was considered peerless among his colleagues (Tracy had a well-deserved reputation for keeping co-stars on their toes for his oddly endearing scene-stealing tricks), and remained in demand as a senior statesman who nevertheless retained box office clout. Two weeks after completion of Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), during which he suffered from lung congestion, Spencer Tracy died of a heart attack.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Tom Riley born 5 April 1981 is an English actor, producer and director. Riley was born in Maidstone, Kent. He became involved in drama in his hometown at the age of four, and spent his school years writing and directing plays. He attended Maidstone Grammar School. He studied English literature and drama at the University of Birmingham, graduating in 2002 with first class honours.[He then set up a small theatre company before starting a three-year acting course at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art completing his studies in 2005.- Timothy V Murphy was born in County Kerry, Ireland. Murphy began his career in Dublin where he trained in the Focus Theater.
Living in Los Angeles, California; Murphy is known for his roles as Galaan in the FX hit, Sons of Anarchy and Ian Doyle in Criminal Minds.
Murphy is known for the films; Disney's Lone Ranger opposite Johnny Depp; Appaloosa starring and directed by Ed Harris; Jorma Taccone's comedy Macgruber opposite Val Kilmer; National Treasure: Book of Secrets with Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris and the Indies Not That Funny opposite Tony Hale. As well as Jason Momoa's directorial debut Road to Paloma and Looms by the Funk Brothers.
A lifetime member of the Actors Studio, Murphy is an award winning stage actor and was nominated for Best Actor in Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Other awards have included best ensemble for The Lost Plays of Tennessee Williams and best revival for the Brecht Musical, Happy End.
Murphy was voted "Best Villain in American Television" for his work on Sons of Anarchy. - Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946) is an English actress, author and entrepreneur, who achieved early fame as a child actress, and has worked extensively in film and TV throughout her career.
She has appeared in TV shows and films such as The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Alfie (1966), Deep End (1970), The Mistress (1985-1987), Crossroads (2001-2003), Death at a Funeral (2007) and The Old Guys (2009-). She is also known for supplying specialist cakes and kitchenware, as well as publishing three bestselling novels.
Asher was the middle of three children born to Richard Alan John and Margaret Asher, née Eliot, in Willesden, North West London. Her father was a consultant in blood and mental diseases at the Central Middlesex Hospital, as well as being a broadcaster and the author of notable medical articles. Asher's mother was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Asher attended Queen's College in Harley Street, London and is the elder sister of Clare Asher, a radio actress and school inspector. Asher's elder brother is record producer Peter Asher, of Peter and Gordon.
She was a key figure of 1960s show-business society as the fiancée of Paul McCartney. Asher met the illustrator Gerald Scarfe in 1971, and they married ten years later. They have three children, daughter actress Katie Scarfe (born April 17, 1974), and sons Alex Scarfe (born December 1981) and Rory (born 1984).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Max Gail was born on April 5, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, USA as Maxwell Trowbridge Gail. He is an actor and director, known for 42 (2013), Barney Miller (1975) and General Hospital (1963). He married Nan Harris in 1989. They separated in 2000 and have two children. He was previously married to Willie Beir until her death and they had one child. He has been in a relationship with Chris Kaul since 2007.- Actor
- Writer
- Music Department
As one of Hollywood's tallest actors standing at 6' 3", he will always be noticed. Michael Moriarty is one of the great character T.V. actors of all time. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1941. Moriarty was to move to London, England, where he built up a name as a great stage actor. It was also here he attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts as a Fullbright Scholar and as a student of Stella Adler. Michael Moriarty also had early employment selling encyclopedias and tyres. Moriarty from 1971 was to star in a number of successful movies, like Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and The Last Detail (1973), but his biggest success was to follow when he won a Golden Globe for his performance as the cruel, old, vicious Erik Dorf in Holocaust (1978) (a 1978 mini series), which also stars James Woods.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Marshall Allman, born April 5th, 1984 in Austin, Texas, realized his talent for acting at the age of seventeen when he was given his first role in a summer production of Clive Barker's "The History of the Devil". Giving up his pursuits in art and athletics, he moved to Hollywood weeks after graduating from Austin High School to focus his pursuits in acting.
After arriving in Hollywood, he began a deeper study into the craft of acting and soon began working, first in commercials and then guest television spots on the shows Without a Trace (2002) and The Practice (1997). It was only soon after, Marshall landed the role of "Kevin Kelly", alongside Jonathan Tucker and Ben Foster in the movie Hostage (2005).
Since then, he has garnered worldwide attention with his intense role as "L.J. Burrows" on the international hit show Prison Break (2005) and has landed roles in various independent films including Winged Creatures (2008), costarring with Forest Whitaker and the leading role in acclaimed writer-directors David Russo's feature length debut, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009).- Actor
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Two-time Oscar-winner Melvyn Douglas was one of America's finest actors, and would enjoy cinema immortality if for no other reason than his being the man who made Greta Garbo laugh in Ernst Lubitsch's classic comedy Ninotchka (1939), but he was much, much more.
Melvyn Douglas was born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg on April 5, 1901, in Macon, Georgia. His father, Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a noted concert pianist and composer, was a Latvian Jewish emigrant, from Riga. His mother, Lena Priscilla (Shackelford), from Clark Furnace, Tennessee, was from a family with deep roots in the United States, and the daughter of Col. George Taliaferro Shackelford. Melvyn's father supported his family by teaching music at university-based conservatories. Melvyn dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
He made his Broadway debut in the drama "A Free Soul " at the Playhouse Theatre on January 12, 1928, playing the role of a raffish gangster (a part that would later make Clark Gable's career when the play was adapted to the screen as A Free Soul (1931) ). "A Free Soul" was a modest success, running for 100 performances. His next three plays were flops: "Back Here" and "Now-a-Days" each lasted one week, while "Recapture" lasted all of three before closing. He was much luckier with his next play, "Tonight or Never," which opened on November 18, 1930, at legendary producer David Belasco's theater. Not only did the play run for 232 performances, but Douglas met the woman who would be his wife of nearly 50 years: his co-star, Helen Gahagan. They were married in 1931.
The movies came a-calling in 1932 and Douglas had the unique pleasure of assaying completely different characters in widely divergent films. He first appeared opposite his future Ninotchka (1939) co-star Greta Garbo in the screen adaptation of Luigi Pirandello's As You Desire Me (1932), proving himself a sophisticated leading man as, aside from his first-rate performance, he was able to shine in the light thrown off by Garbo, the cinema's greatest star. In typical Hollywood fashion, however, this terrific performance in a top-rank film from a major studio was balanced by his appearance in a low-budget horror film for the independent Mayfair studio, The Vampire Bat (1933). However, the leading man won out, and that's how he first came to fame in the 1930s in such films as She Married Her Boss (1935) and Garbo's final film, Two-Faced Woman (1941). Douglas had shown he could play both straight drama and light comedy.
Douglas was a great liberal and was a pillar of the anti-Nazi Popular Front in the Hollywood of the 1930s. A big supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he and his wife Helen were invited to spend a night at the White House in November 1939. Douglas' leftism would come back to haunt him after the death of FDR.
Well-connected with the Roosevelt White House, Douglas served as a director of the Arts Council in the Office of Civilian Defense before joining the Army during World War II. He was very active in politics and was one of the leading lights of the anti-Communist left in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Helen Gahagan Douglas, who also was politically active, was elected to Congress from the 14th District in Los Angeles in 1944, the first of three terms.
Returning to films after the war, Douglas' screen persona evolved and he took on more mature roles, in such films as The Sea of Grass (1947) (Elia Kazan's directorial debut) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). His political past caught up with him, however, in the late 1940s, and he - along with fellow liberals Edward G. Robinson and Henry Fonda (a registered Republican!) - were "gray-listed" (not explicitly blacklisted, they just weren't offered any work).
Then there was the theater. Douglas made many appearances on Broadway in the 1940s and 1950s, including in a notable 1959 flop, making his musical debut playing Captain Boyle in Marc Blitzstein's "Juno." The musical, based on Sean O'Casey's play "Juno and the Paycock", closed in less than three weeks. Douglas was much luckier in his next trip to the post: he won a Tony for his Broadway lead role in the 1960 play "The Best Man" by Gore Vidal.
Douglas' evolution into a premier character actor was completed by the early 1960s. His years of movie exile seemed to deepen him, making him richer, and he returned to the big screen a more authoritative actor. For his second role after coming off of the graylist, he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Paul Newman's father in Hud (1963). Other films in which he shined were Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964), CBS Playhouse (1967) (a 1967 episode directed by George Schaefer called "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", for which he won a Best Actor Emmy) and The Candidate (1972), in which he played Robert Redford's father. It was for his performance playing Gene Hackman's father that Douglas got his sole Best Actor Academy Award nod, in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). He had a career renaissance in the late 1970s, appearing in The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), Being There (1979) and Ghost Story (1981). He won his second Oscar for "Being There."
Helen Gahagan Douglas died in 1980 and Melvyn followed her in 1981. He was 80 years old.- Actor
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Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was born on April 5, 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was a railroad worker and his mother, Frances (Preseren), was a seamstress. His family was originally from Novo Mesto, Slovenia. While in high school, young Frank worked as an usher at the Sheridan Square Theatre and began doing impressions of some of his screen idols: Al Jolson, James Cagney, Cary Grant and Edward G. Robinson. At age 17, he won a local talent contest. The prize was a one-week engagement at Jackie Heller's Carousel nightclub, where Alan King was headlining. It was young Frank's first paid job as an entertainer and launched his show business career. Frank attended local Catholic schools and, later, Carnegie-Mellon Tech School of Drama. He acted in plays and performed in nightclubs in Pittsburgh in his spare time.
In 1953, at age 19, he was drafted into the United States Army and was posted in Germany. Frank served for two years, 1953-1955, as an entertainer attached to Special Services. In the Army, Frank met Maurice A. Bergman, who would introduce Frank to a Hollywood agent when his hitch with Uncle Sam was up. Frank quickly landed a role in The Proud and Profane (1956) and other roles in television dramas followed.
In 1957, while visiting his family in Pittsburgh, his agent phoned him to rush back to Hollywood for an audition for Run Silent Run Deep (1958). For some odd reason, instead of catching a plane, Frank decided to drive his car to Los Angeles. Driving 39 consecutive hours, he fell asleep at the wheel, crashed, suffered a fractured skull and woke up in the hospital four days later. To add insult to injury, a Los Angeles newspaper reported he was killed, and the plum movie role of Officer Ruby went to Don Rickles.
Frank appeared in a number of lovable B-movies for American-International Pictures: Hot Rod Girl (1956) and Dragstrip Girl (1957), and everybody's favorite, Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957). Frank finally got a substantial role in the A-movie, Bells Are Ringing (1960), with Dean Martin and Judy Holliday. He did a thinly-disguised Marlon Brando impression. he also appeared in Hollywood nightclubs, including the Purple Onion. He did Las Vegas engagements, opening for Bobby Darin at The Flamingo. On television, Frank appeared on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956) and had a dozen guest shots on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948).
In 1966, he gave his breakout performance, performing what has become his best-known role: The Riddler on Batman (1966), for which he received an Emmy nomination. He also played The Riddler in the movie, Batman: The Movie (1966), based on the television series. "I could feel the impact overnight", he recalled later. Because of his nationwide recognition, he was given headliner status in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, Sahara and Aladdin Hotels. He received more good reviews for his performance in Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969).
In 1970, Frank made his Broadway debut as the star of "Jimmy", for which he got rave reviews. He also starred in many touring company productions, such as "Promises, Promises", "Peter Pan", "Prisoner of Second Street" and "Guys and Dolls". In the 1980s, Frank served as Honorary Chairman, Entertainment Division, for the American Heart Association. Perhaps recalling his early AIP films, Frank worked with the legendary Roger Corman, appearing as Clockwise on the television series Black Scorpion (2001) and on Corman's The Phantom Eye (1999). He had appeared in over 70 movies and made over 40 guest appearances in television series.
Gorshin died at age 72 in Burbank, California on May 17, 2005. He had suffered from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia.- Actress
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Lisa Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Lisa is an actor and writer, known for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), The Nurse (1997) and Monkeybone (2001).- Kim Jung-hyun was born on 5 April 1990 in Busan, South Korea. He is an actor, known for School 2017 (2017), Overman (2015) and Crash Landing on You (2019).
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Carlos Carrasco is an actor, director and producer from Panama City, Panamá. He attended Junior College in the former American Canal Zone and was awarded an acting scholarship to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. He earned a Masters in Speech at the University of Illinois followed by 3 years at Wayne State University on an acting fellowship as a member of their resident classical repertory company. Carrasco spent his early years as a professional actor in New York, making his Broadway debut in the Circle in the Square's production of The National Health with Rita Moreno. Extensive stage work followed including appearances in regional theaters such as The Hartford Stage Company, Atlanta's Alliance Theater and the Los Angeles Mark Taper Forum. In addition, Carrasco's acting career includes television, commercials, voice-overs and movies. His film credits include the blockbuster hit Speed, and roles in director Taylor Hackford's major cult classic film Blood In & Blood Out and Parker starring Jason Statham. Additional film credits include Crocodile Dundee II and The Fisher King. TV credits include recurring characters on HBO's Looking and Insecure, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, Parks and Recreation, ER, and SeaQuest 2032 to name a few. He has also acted under the direction of John Frankenheimer in The Burning Season (HBO) and William Friedkin in the 200th episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. His directorial and production work includes the award winning short film One, and the shorts Honesty, Pencil Rose and Disarm as well as the documentary short Art Galleries & Back Alleys about the artists collective Self-Help Graphics in Boyle Heights,. He was Executive Producer for eight seasons of the Panamanian International Film Festival, based in Los Angeles and showcasing the work of Latino Filmmakers from the U.S. and Latin America. In his free time, Carrasco likes to play the guitar, go to jam sessions, and listen to the blues and Bruce.- Actress
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This beautiful, long-legged blonde actress was known to be a kind, intelligent and dependable actor with a comedic talent as well. She appeared in many American TV hits of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Three's Company (1976), The Jeffersons (1975), The New Mike Hammer (1984), Riptide (1984), Knight Rider (1982), Who's the Boss? (1984), The A-Team (1983), Night Court (1984), Wings (1990) and Silk Stalkings (1991), among others. Her big-screen debut came in the 1982 Amy Heckerling film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), as the character Mrs. Vargas. This film starred Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Lana then landed a role in the Roger Corman fantasy epic Deathstalker (1983). This led to her being offered the title role in Corman's next film, the cult classic Barbarian Queen (1985). It was this association with the legendary Corman that really put Lana on the B-movie map. After starring in "Barbarian Queen" as the sword-wielding lead, a character Corman fondly refers to as "the original Xena," Lana then reprised the role in the sequel Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back (1990).
Lana's larger-than-life personality and striking beauty, along with several of the movie roles she chose, inspired a cult fan following. This warm fanfare was further cemented by her work in the John Landis spoof Amazon Women on the Moon (1987). She was always a favorite at the ever-growing comic book conventions, where she happily signed autographs and was known to be friendly and accessible to all of her loyal fans, both young and old alike.
Lana also did stunt work in Retroactive (1997). Her last film was March (2001), as Dr. Ellen Taylor. Even though she did not do many movies toward the end of her life, she found success working in television commercials, for such products as Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Anheiser Busch, Playtex bras, Kmart and Mattel. She had been spending her time creating comedic characters for many of these companies. While working for the KMART Corp., Lana made personal appearances as the character she created for the Route 66 clothing campaign, Katie Earline Wilson. She was an actress who had more to offer Hollywood in the future, had her life not been cut so tragically short.- Actor
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Remy Hii began his career on stage at the age of 19 with the Queensland Theatre Company in the award winning play The Estimator. Television roles soon followed, and three years of full time study with the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, Australia where he graduated in 2011.
Weeks after graduating, Hii was cast in Alex Proyas' film 'Paradise Lost' as a fallen Angel alongside Bradley Cooper's Lucifer. The production however was shutdown citing budgetary reasons. Immediately following, Hii appeared playing the true story of Van Tuong Nguyen, an Australian sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Singapore. For his role as Van in Better Man, Remy was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama, and won the Graham Kennedy Award For Most Outstanding Newcomer.
Hii was introduced to international audiences as Prince Jingim, heir to the Kublai Khan's Mongolian Empire in the Netflix/Weinstein Original production Marco Polo. Remy underwent rigorous physical training for the role including martial arts, archery, horse riding, and performed his own stunts on the show.
Hii returned to the stage in the Sydney Theatre Company production of The Golden Age in 2016.- Actress
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Alexandra is originally from Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. Alexandra moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting when she was 17. She graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a dual degree in Drama and Psychology and studied at the Stella Adler Studio. After graduating from NYU, Alexandra performed in Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre, studied with Joseph Chaikin in his final master classes in NYC, and continued her classical theatre training with Patsy Rodenburg from The National Theatre in London.- Actor
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Widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors both in his native UK and internationally, the unparalleled Nigel Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England on 5 April 1929, raised in South Africa and returned to the UK in the 1950s with his extensive work as a great gentleman of acting following during the decade as well as in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. His portrayal of 'Sir Humphrey Appleby' in the BBC comedy Yes Minister (1980) won him international acclaim in the 1980s. In 1992, he was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for his sublime interpretation of 'George III' in Alan Bennett's hit stage play, "The Madness of King George III" and he was also nominated for an Academy Award of Best Actor in a Leading Role in its brilliant film adaptation The Madness of King George (1994), both of them exquisitely directed by Nicholas Hytner.- Music Artist
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Agnetha Fältskog was born on 5 April 1950 in Jönköping, Jönköpings län, Sweden. She is a music artist and actress, known for Let the Right One In (2008), P & B (1983) and Raskenstam (1983). She was previously married to Tomas Sonnenfeld and Björn Ulvaeus.- Actress
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Shin Min-A, born April 5th, 1984 with birth name Yang Min-A, is a popular South Korean actress & model. Her family consists of a father, mother, older sister & brother. In middle school, Min-A took a picture with her friends on a school picnic and sent the photo to teen magazine KiKi. From that picture she was chosen as a model for the magazine. Afterwards she would first appear in commercials and music videos. In 2001, Min-A made her acting debut in the movie "Volcano High" and would appear again two years later in "Madeleine". Her breakout performance would occur in the 2005 gangster film "A Bittersweet Life". Her character, Hee-soo, displayed a mixture of purity and maturity that captivated South Korean audiences. Since that time, Shin Min-A has received an assortment of acting offers from top Korean directors and expanded her acting repertoire by selecting various types of roles: from martial-arts comedy "My Mighty Princess" to 70's go-go dancer "Go Go 70s" to smaller independent film "Sisters on the Road".
More recently in 2009, Shin Min-A participated in the project "Miracle Blue," which is a collaboration between herself, the Korean alternative band Loveholic and fashion design company Calvin Klein. In the music video "Miracle Blue," in which Min-a Shin sings, she performs as various characters displaying child-like innocence to sexy blonde haired singer.- Anchal Singh is the younger of the two siblings and was raised in Chandigarh by her mother who is a lecturer and father , a former Indian Air Force Officer. Her elder brother is a digital marketing consultant based in Delhi. The family is spiritually inclined and her parents are majorly into healing and meditation. She pursued her education from Air Force Golden Jubilee and graduated from Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, specialising in Political Sc. (Honours). She is also an internationally renowned Clairvoyant and a Tarot Card Reader.
Professional Details: Anchal got her first break in the entertainment industry when she was approached for an ad for Dena Bank. This was her first 2 day trip to Mumbai , after that she completed her education and meanwhile kept doing a lot of commercials in between. She finally realised that , acting is what she wants to do and packed up her bags to settle in the city of dreams - Mumbai.
She has done over 300 + TV commercials both nationally and internationally for prestigious brands like Asian Pants , Dabur Fem Bleach , Ponds, Garnier, Vivel, Malabar Gold, Jos Alukkas, Hyundai , to name a few. She was on the Femina's Cover page and has been part of many print campaigns for brands like Coke, Pepsi, Amway, Lays, Horlicks and many more.
Her first movie "Sri Siddhartha Gautama", in which she played the role of princess Yashodhara, became the highest grosser in the history of Sri Lankan Cinema. This movie was released in over 20 countries and her acting won her many accolades. His Excellency Mahindra Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka personally congratulated her on her talent. After a successful debut , Anchal was also a part of another film in Singalese - 'Akarsha' a story set in the backdrop of a war , this film portrays a love affair between a beautiful Tamil music teacher and a Sinhala army officer.
After her Sri Lankan Debut , she ventured into Tollywood by playing the lead in Dhilluku Dhuddu (Raj Mahal 3) directed by Rambala alongside Santhanam. After the success of this movie , she has bagged another Tamil film which is still being shot. She continued to be a part of the advertisement industry and did commercials alongside famous bollywood personalities like Ranbir Kapoor , Sonakshi Sinha , Priyanka Chopra , Hrithik Roshan , Shilpa Shetty , Hema Malini and many more.
Anchal has also been a part of the bollywood industry and has worked with renowned directors like Prabhudeva and Anurag Basu.
Currently, she is making her debut in the Punjabi film industry with - 'PunjKhaab' alongside Monica Gill by Prabh Films for Punjabi Cinema directed by Gurcharan Singh. The cinematographer of this film happens to be the very well known Anushul Chaobey. Punjkhaab will take the audience through various types of societal stereotypes and stigmas that plague Punjab. - Director
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Peter Greenaway trained as a painter and began working as a film editor for the Central Office of Information in 1965. Shortly afterwards he started to make his own films. He has produced a wealth of short and feature-length films, but also paintings, novels and other books. He has held several one-man shows and curated exhibitions at museums world-wide.- Producer
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A graduate of the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan, Bagans moved to Las Vegas to become a documentary filmmaker and explorer of the paranormal. Stated as an Empath to spirits, Bagans has created the #1 rated hit series on the Travel Channel, Ghost Adventures, as well as numerous other TV Shows and Films.- Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr, also known as WWE Superstar Charlotte Flair, is a 14-time Champion and one of the most decorated female athletes in the history of sports entertainment.
Fliehr's initial foray into sports came from her love and passion for volleyball and gymnastics. She won two state championships in high school and was recruited as a Division 1 volleyball player for Appalachian State. Wrestling was never in her plan until a dinner with a WWE executive to discuss her late brother's future path, while her father, Ric Flair, was being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for the second time, changed her career path permanently.
Fliehr signed with WWE in 2012 and her innate athleticism came to life at her main roster ring debut on Monday Night Raw in 2015 shortly after winning the NXT Women's Championship in 2014.
She established herself as a dominant force in WWE's women's division, winning her first Divas Championship in 2015 and later retiring the Divas Championship to become the inaugural WWE Women's Champion in 2016, which she has held a record-tying seven times.
The face of WWE's women's evolution, Flair continued to make history and break barriers with her WrestleMania 35 triple-threat match against Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey, the first-ever WrestleMania main event featuring females. She also headlined seven WrestleManias in a row, became the first female Superstar in WWE history to main event a singles match on Raw, SmackDown and a Premium Live Event, and has won more Women's Titles than any other Superstar in WWE history.
Fliehr is also a force to be reckoned with outside the ring. She has been featured in ABC's Good Morning America, Apple TV's Carpool Karaoke, ESPN The Magazine "Body Issue," NBC's Today Show, and Peacock's Punky Brewster, among many others. Fliehr has showcased her acting abilities in the comedic-drama, Psych: The Movie, through Universal Content Productions. She is also among the top 15 most-followed female athletes in the world on social media.
This multi-faceted athlete, author, actor, and host is unstoppable and now she can add jewelry designer to her title when she launched her "Eminence" collaboration with prestige jeweler The Rockford Collection in 2022.
Fliehr's philanthropic contributions include supporting WWE's Community partners such as Make-A-Wish, participating in Girl Up's Sports for a Purpose program designed to help youth achieve gender equality in sports, and being the face of many Special Olympics Unified Sports Competitions around the world.
Fliehr was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and now resides in Florida with her sports entertainment professional husband, Manuel Alfonso Andrade Oropeza, also known as "Manny". - Actor
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The son of a solicitor, British character actor John Le Mesurier attended public school in Dorset, England, before embarking on a career in law. However, acting was his true calling, and at age 20, with his parents' approval, he began his acting career by studying drama at the Fay Compton School of Acting, where one of his classmates was Alec Guinness.
After acting school he performed in repertory until World War II, when he served as a captain in the Northwest Indian Frontier.
After the war, he returned to the stage and made his film debut in Death in the Hand (1948). By the late 1950s Le Mesurier had made appearances in numerous films, especially those made by the Boulting Brothers, and also on television, particularly on Hancock's Half Hour (1956). In 1968 he landed arguably his most popular role, that of Sgt. Wilson in the long-running television series Dad's Army (1968). Although preferring comedy, Le Mesurier also excelled in drama, winning a BAFTA award for Best Actor of the Year in 1971 for his performance in Dennis Potter's "Traitor (1971) (TV)".
In 1977, during "Dad's Army", he had become very ill, but he recovered and continued acting until his death six years later.- Zofia Wichlacz was born on 5 April 1995 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. She is an actress, known for Warsaw 44 (2014), The Mire (2018) and Winter of the Crow.
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Christopher Reid was born on 5 April 1964 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for House Party (1990), House Party 3 (1994) and Spec Ops: The Line (2012). He has been married to Kimberly Turner since 19 June 2004.- Actor
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For many years Walter Huston had two passions: his career as an engineer and his vocation for the stage. In 1909 he dedicated himself to the theatre, and made his debut on Broadway in 1924. In 1929 he journeyed to Hollywood, where his talent and ability made him one of the most respected actors in the industry. He won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).- Actor
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Dallas Reid was born on 5 April 1993 in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor, known for Black Clover (2017), To Dust (2014) and Psycho-Pass (2012). He is married to Jill Harris.- Nadia Alexander was born in Columbia, SC, before moving to Pittsburgh, PA, at the age of one. She began acting in Pittsburgh regional theater at the age of six and worked in nearly all the Equity theaters in the region, winning several awards for her performances. In 2007, she moved to NYC and was accepted into the drama program at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts from which she graduated as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. She now holds Bachelor's Degrees in physics and psychology from the Macaulay Honors College.
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The youngest of five children, and born with the drab, unlikely name of Josephine Cottle on April 5, 1922, this pleasantly appealing, Texas-born, auburn-haired beauty was only seventeen months old when her father, William, passed away. The family moved from Bloomington (her home town) to McDade (between Austin and Houston), where her mother, Minnie, made ends meet as a seamstress and milliner. The family eventually settled in Houston, where Gale took dance and ice skating lessons, developed a strong interest in acting, and performed in high school dramatics. Encouraged by her teachers, Gale by chance entered and was chosen the winner of a local radio talent contest called Jesse L. Lasky's "Gateway to Hollywood" in 1939. This took her and her mother to Hollywood, where she captured the national contest title.
Handed the more exciting stage moniker of "Gale Storm", she was soon put under contract to RKO Pictures. Although she was dropped by the studio after only six months, she had established herself enough to find work elsewhere, including at Monogram and Universal. Appearing in a number of "B" musicals, mysteries and westerns, her wholesome, open-faced prettiness made her a natural for filming. The programmers, however, that she co-starred in were hardly the talk of the town. Making her inauspicious debut with Tom Brown's School Days (1940), her '40s movies bore such dubious titles as Let's Go Collegiate (1941), Freckles Comes Home (1942), Revenge of the Zombies (1943), Sunbonnet Sue (1945), Swing Parade of 1946 (1946), and Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950), indicating the difficulty of finding material worthy of her talent. Arguably, her better movies include the family Christmas tale It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947), which co-starred Don DeFore; the overlooked western comedy The Dude Goes West (1948) opposite Eddie Albert; and the film noir piece The Underworld Story (1950) with Dan Duryea.
After years of toiling in films, Gale finally turned things around at age 30 by transplanting herself to the small screen. Her very first TV series, My Little Margie (1952), which was only supposed to be a summer replacement series for I Love Lucy (1951), became one of the most watched sitcoms in the early '50s while showing up in syndicated reruns for decades. Co-starring the popular film star Charles Farrell as her amiable dad, Gale's warmth and ingratiating style suited TV to a tee, making her one of the most popular light comediennes of the time. She segued directly into her second hit series as a cruise ship director in The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna (1956), which was better known as "Oh! Susannah" after it went into syndication. Co-starring woebegone Zasu Pitts as the ship's manicurist and her "Ethel Mertz" counterpart, this show lasted a season longer than her first.
In the midst of all this, the (gasp!) thirty-something star dared to launch her own Las Vegas nightclub and pop recording careers. Always looking much younger than she was, she produced a number of Billboard chart makers, including "I Hear You Knocking" (her first hit), "Memories Are Made of This", "Ivory Tower" and her own cover of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". Her most successful song of the decade was "Dark Moon", which peaked at #4.
Gale's film career took a sharp decline following the demise of her second series in 1960. Most of her focus was placed modestly on the summer stock or dinner theater circuit, doing a revolving door of tailor-made comedies and musicals such as "Cactus Flower", "Forty Carats", "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and "South Pacific". She finally appeared again on TV in a The Love Boat (1977) segment in 1979 after nearly a two-decade absence. It was later revealed in Gale's candid autobiography "I Ain't Down Yet" (1981) and on the talk show circuit that the disappearance was triggered by a particularly vicious battle with alcohol. Years later, Gale became an outspoken and committed lecturer, helping to remove the stigma attached to such a disease, particularly as it applied to women.
Fully recovered, she has been widowed twice (by actor Lee Bonnell in 1986 and Paul Masterson in 1996). Incredibly accommodating over the years, Gale has appeared on the nostalgia and film festival circuits to the delight of her many fans. She died on June 27, 2009, at a Danville, California convalescent home at age 87.- Aptly nicknamed "Warrior", Daniel Singh's life story is a heroic tale in itself. Born in Durham, England, Singh played rugby during 2001 at the age of 14. It was then that he suffered a broken neck injury resulting in paralysis. Despite having no guarantees of ever recovering any mobility, Singh committed himself to an 8-month rehabilitation program that was rewarded with total recovery from his injury. Although mobile once more, Singh was a victim of another plaguing obstacle in the form of obesity. With immense determination and dedication, Singh took up healthy exercise through basketball and weight-lifting. He spent 3 or 4 years working in health clubs and earned many qualifications during that time. Around the age of 20 in 2007, Singh began a career in professional wrestling, having trained with the likes of Elix Skipper and Mr. Hughes. He also contacted Sky 1 for a role on its revival of the Gladiators series. Initially, he was assigned as a reservist, with the stage name of "Thunder", before joining the 2008 series, where in he appeared under the stage name "Warrior". Standing an impressive and athletic 6'3" and weighing a strict 238 lbs (or 17 stones), Singh excelled in the show's Suspension Bridge and Earthquake competitions. During 2010, he signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. After a year, he returned home to the UK where he continued to wrestle for the remainder of November 2011. Home in the UK, Singh signed with MMA promotion Super Fight League (SFL) to compete as a heavyweight (265 lbs). Professional wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts competition was only the tip of the iceberg for this warrior. In 2014, Singh made his acting debut in the action drama series 24: Live Another Day. True to his nickname, Singh's warrior spirit exemplifies the rewards of determination and dedication to accomplish any goal he sets for himself.
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Pharrell Williams was born on 5 April 1973 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Hidden Figures (2016), Despicable Me 2 (2013) and Despicable Me (2010). He has been married to Helen Lasichanh since 12 October 2013. They have four children.- Actor
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Gordon Jones was born on 5 April 1911 in Alden, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Flying Tigers (1942), The Green Hornet (1940) and My Sister Eileen (1942). He was married to Lucile Van Winkle. He died on 20 June 1963 in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, USA.- British actress Billie Boullet was born in London but moved to Paris as a baby. She returned to the UK in 2014 and trained at ArtsEd performing arts school in London. She appears in the Disney+ TV series A Small Light where she plays the role of Anne Frank. She previously appeared in the BBC series The Worst Witch an Apple TV animation series which will be released in 2024. Billie is a fluent speaker of both French and Norwegian. She was nominated for best supporting actress in a limited series by the Critics choice awards 2024 for her role in A Small Light.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Gary Hershberger was born April 5, 1964 in Inglewood, California. He was raised in North Hollywood, California and then moved to small town San Marino with his mother, Jane, and his father Richard, a lawyer, and his older sister, Linda. Drawn to the creative arts from an early age, Gary fell in love with theatre, and it charted his course through high school and at UCLA. At college, he starred in student Shane Black's (Lethal Weapon) play It Never Rains, and soon after was working consistently in film and television throughout college. Gary soon broke through and was part of the all-star ensemble in groundbreaking series such as Twin Peaks (as Mike "The Snake" Nelson), and later in two seasons of Six Feet Under as the nefarious, guy-you-loved-to-hate Mr. Gilardi. One of his standout performances was playing the younger, college-aged Robert Redford character in the charming romp action film, Sneakers. Respected in the theatrical community, Gary studied with the late acclaimed acting teacher Peggy Feury of The Loft Studio, Matt Chait, several years with Candy Kaniecki, as well as three years at the top training ground for improvisational actors, the Groundling Theatre. Gary has a broad character range, playing leading men, nuanced villains, as well as a love for light comedy. Gary has been blessed to work with Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning director Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams), Academy Award winner Alan Ball (American Beauty), multi-Oscar nominated, acclaimed director David Lynch (Twin Peaks), and has worked with such greats as Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Naomi Watts, and many, many others. Over the last decade, Gary started his writing career by helping other writers shepherd their script into production, being a silent ghostwriter and guide. Gary is now an award-winning writer, having won a Top Ten Feature Finalist in the Final Draft Big Break Screenplay Contest (2012). His other awards include a PAGE International Screenwriting Award for Top Ten Finalist for Best Television Comedy, a PAGE Top Ten Finalist for Best Television Drama, and won third place for the PAGE Best Television Comedy. Gary is now in active development for his feature directorial debut, for his inspirational sports comedy-drama, Late in the Season. In preparation for the production of the feature film, Gary produced and directed the short film version starring Zachary Levi (Tangled). Gary directed a thirty-five member cast, including coordinating all the sports action photography, shooting a twelve member real-life high school basketball team, and led an all-star production crew. Gary is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors' Equity Association. He co-founded The Actor's Director Workshop with actor/director Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks) to help directors, writers, and actors collaborate with each other, and to help directors guide actors to their best performances. They have taught individually or together at such top film schools as USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, and LMU. Gary enjoys playing basketball, and has nine years experience coaching every level of youth basketball, including coaching at the high school level. Gary is happily married, and has four wonderful children who inspire him every day.- Roger Davis is an actor, producer and voice-over artist, who is most remembered for taking over the role of Hannibal Heyes (a.k.a. Joshua Smith) in the TV series, Alias Smith and Jones (1971), from his friend, Pete Duel, after Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while intoxicated.
His assumption of the role was rather fitting, as he had appeared in an ABC Movie of the Week under the title, The Young Country (1970), his co-star being Duel, a Universal Studios contract player who was cast as the second lead. Davis had most recently appeared for two years (1968-70) as multiple characters on the vampire-themed daytime soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966). Before that, he had appeared as a solider in the World War Two-themed TV series, The Gallant Men (1962), which was broadcast in the 1962-63 season, and as a ranch hand in the short-lived 1963 TV Western series, Redigo (1963), which was canceled in the middle of its first season. In 1966, he shot a pilot for a TV series based on James Jones's classic WWII novel, From Here to Eternity (1953), cast in the pivotal role as "Pvt. Robert E. Lee Pruitt". The series was not picked up.
Neither was "The Young Country" pilot four years later. ABC did pick up the "Alias Smith and Jones" pilot as a mid-season replacement in January 1971. The Alias Smith and Jones pilot concept paid homage to the smash hit movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and starred Duel as a character inspired by Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy. (In the movie, Butch and Sundance refer to themselves by the aliases Smith and Jones). Universal Studios contract player Ben Murphy was selected to play Duel's partner.
The producers called on Davis' skills as a voice-over artist to narrate the opening of each "Alias Smith and Jones" episode starring Duel & Murphy. He also appeared as an actor in the episode Smiler with a Gun (1971). Davis was the only person ever killed by Murphy's character, "Kid Curry", a reformed gunslinger inspired by Robert Redford's character, "The Sundance Kid".
Duel died on the morning of Friday, December 31, 1971, before shooting on the 1971-72 season could be completed. Eighteen episodes had been completed, and Duel had been working on Episode #19. Shooting with Murphy continued that Friday and Davis was immediately hired to replace his friend, thus completing the circle that began with both being considered for the same role in "Ride the Wild Surf" (1964) and "Love on a Rooftop"(1966) and continued with their starring together in "The Young Country". Davis appeared in the final five episodes of Season Two and all of the 12 episodes in Season Three, when the show was canceled in mid-season.
"Alias Smith and Jones" was scheduled in two of the most unenviable time slots in TV history. In its first two seasons, it appeared on Thursday night opposite "The Flip Wilson Show" (known as Flip (1970)), the #2 rated show in America. ABC switched it in the 1972-73 season to Saturday where its competition was another show that had debuted in January 1971, All in the Family (1971), the top-rated program on television and a genuine ratings phenomenon. From 1971 to 1976, "All in the Family" established a record with five consecutive seasons as the #1 rated show. "The Flip Wilson Show" slipped out of the Top 10 to #12 during the 1972-73 season that would prove to be the last for "Alias Smith and Jones".
Pete Duel publicly blamed the failure of ABC to pick up Love on a Rooftop (1966), the first of the two series in which he played a lead role, to network politics. ABC did not renew "Love on Rooftop" after its maiden 1966-67 season as another producer wanted the time slot, Duel claimed. Before his death, he also claimed that after its first season, ABC had considered moving "Alias Smith and Jones" for the 1971-72 season to Saturday night in the 8:30-9:30 slot vacated by the canceled The Lawrence Welk Show (1951), but left it on Thursday. Duel was disappointed that the network left his show where it was, as he felt the other slot would be better for his new series. He was very wrong, as it was the move to Saturday night, after Duel's death, that killed it.
"All in the Family" had debuted on Tuesday nights at 9:30 and was ranked #34 in its inaugural half-season. After being switched to Saturday at 8:00PM in the 1971-72 season (the season ABC had first considered switching "Alias Smith and Jones" to Saturday), it quickly ascended to the top of the ratings charts. It would prove a more formidable adversary than any "Hannibal Heyes" & "Kid Curry" ever met up with on their show, including "Danny Bilson", the gunman Roger Davis played in Smiler with a Gun (1971).
Roger Davis was unfairly blamed for some for the demise of "Alias Smith and Jones", on the grounds that he was unable to fill Pete Duel's boots. However, it's doubtful the show could have survived, even with Duel, as the network unwisely put the show up against the cultural phenomenon that was "All in the Family". The once popular TV Western was a dying genre, and in January 1973, the same month ABC ended the run of "Alias Smith and Jones", NBC pulled the plug on former ratings blockbuster Bonanza (1959) (three times the #1 show from 1964 to 1967 and #3 in both the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons), which joined "Alias Smith and Jones" in the Happy Hunting Grounds of canceled TV westerns. That left only Gunsmoke (1955) to cowboy up until it, too, left the airwaves in 1975.
Roger Davis continued to appear in guest roles in TV and the occasional low-budget film throughout the 1970s, but work became sparse in the '80s. As a voice artist, he has made over 6,000 commercials on TV and radio. He is a partner in the movie production company, "Lonetree Entertainment".
Apart from acting, Davis has enjoyed success as a real estate developer, not only building multi-million-dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills area but also renovating high-rise buildings, hotels and mansions. The Louisville, Kentucky native had been married four times: His first wife was actress Jaclyn Smith, of Charlie's Angels (1976) fame. - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Michael Vincente Gazzo was born in Hillside, New Jersey, on April 5, 1923. He attended Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop at the New School on the GI Bill after being demobilized from the US Army Air Force after World War II.
Gazzo's first major success was as a playwright. His play about drug addiction, "A Hatful of Rain," was a success on Broadway, running for 389 performances in 1955 and 1956 and winning Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosa Tony award nominations as Best Actor and Best Featured Actor, respectively. However, his second (and what would prove to be his last) Broadway play, "The Night Circus," also starring Gazzara, was a flop, lasting just 7 performances in 1958,
"A Hatful of Rain" was made into a successful film by Oscar-winning director Fred Zinnemann in 1957. Franciosa won an Oscar nomination for reprising his role in the film. Gazzo turned to screenwriting, penning the Elvis Presley hoses-opera King Creole (1958). Eventually he turned back to acting, where his stocky physique and unique screech of a voice made him a first-rate character actor by the 1970s.
His biggest and best acting gig came to him when Richard S. Castellano refused to appear in The Godfather Part II (1974) due to a money dispute. Castellano's character Clemenza was killed off and Gazzo was cast as Clemenza's successor in the Corleone crime family in New York. Gazzo was outstanding as the old-fashioned, unsophisticated mafioso who, believing he has been betrayed and marked for death by his don, turns state's evidence against him, only to honor the Mafia code of "omerta" in the end. Gazzo won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for his performance.
Gazzo continued to work in films until his death, mostly assaying Mafia bosses and other criminal types. On film, though, he was able to break out of typecasting in his frequent television appearances and play good guys. He died of a stroke on February 14, 1995 in Los Angeles, at the age of 71.